Smuggling operation suspected after 90 found in Texas home
HOUSTON — More than 90 people were found in a house in southwestern Houston that investigators suspect was part of a human smuggling operation, police said Friday. Authorities initially served a search warrant at the house after someone called police Thursday night to report a loved one was being held...
Prosecutors seek higher sentence for Chauvin in Floyd death
MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors are asking a judge to give Derek Chauvin a more severe penalty than state guidelines call for when he is sentenced in June for George Floyd’s death, arguing in court documents filed Friday that Floyd was particularly vulnerable and that Chauvin abused his authority as a police...
Pa. man admits to voter fraud in casting dead mother’s ballot
MEDIA — A Pennsylvania man who illegally voted for Donald Trump on behalf of his long-dead mother in last year’s presidential election was sentenced Friday to five years of probation. Bruce Bartman, 70, of Marple pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of perjury and one count of unlawful voting. Besides...
Pa. leaders deadlock on final member of district-drawing panel
HARRISBURG — The Republican and Democratic floor leaders of the Pennsylvania House and Senate said Friday they can’t agree who should be the tie-breaking fifth member of the panel that will redraw the state’s legislative district lines. The announcement means the chairperson of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission will be selected...
240-pound fish, age 100, caught in Detroit River
Now that’s a whopper — a very old whopper! A 240-pound sturgeon that could be more than 100 years old was caught last week in the Detroit River by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The “real life river monster” was nearly 7 feet long, the agency said Friday on...
SpaceX making 1st U.S. crew splashdown in dark since Apollo 8
SpaceX this weekend will attempt the first U.S. splashdown of returning astronauts in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot in 1968. Elon Musk’s company is targeting the predawn hours of Sunday to bring back three NASA astronauts and one from Japan, after dangerously high wind scuttled a pair of earlier...
Canada to start to get Pfizer vaccines from the U.S. next week
TORONTO — Canada will start getting Pfizer covid-19 vaccines from the United States next week, a company spokesperson said Friday, in what will be the first time the U.S. has allowed that company’s vaccine exported to Canada. Despite Canada’s tightly woven commercial ties with the U.S., it has been getting...
Judge orders Columbus police to alter tactics for protests
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police in Ohio’s capital city ran “amok” last year when responding to demonstrations against racial injustice and police brutality by using physical violence, tear gas and pepper spray against protestors without provocation, a federal judge said Friday in a ruling ordering officers to approach such scenarios differently....
U.S. closes in on 100 million Americans fully vaccinated
Disneyland reopened Friday and New York’s mayor predicted the big city will be up and running again at full strength by July 1, as the number of Americans fully vaccinated against covid-19 closed in on 100 million. Visitors cheered and screamed with delight as the Southern California theme park swung...
U.S. officials: Anxiety drove vaccine reactions in 5 states
It was anxiety — and not a problem with the shots — that caused fainting, dizziness and other short-term reactions in dozens of people at coronavirus vaccine clinics in five states, U.S. health officials have concluded. Experts say the clusters detailed Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
Studies show covid vaccine protects twice as long as natural immunity
New medical studies are examining both the length of natural immunity in patients who have recovered from covid-19, as well as the effectiveness of the Moderna vaccine in producing antibodies to combat the virus. A study published in BioMed Central found that fewer than half of 37 covid-positive patients retained...
Trial of other cops charged in Floyd’s death to be broadcast
MINNEAPOLIS — Derek Chauvin’s murder trial was the first Minnesota criminal trial to be broadcast live on television. It won’t be the last. Some in the Minnesota legal system were apprehensive about allowing the live broadcast of Chauvin’s trial over the killing of George Floyd, but the video feed had...
Arizona: 1 officer killed, 1 hurt by suspect in stolen car
GILBERT, Ariz. — A suspect in a stolen car struck and killed one police officer and critically injured another during a wild chase involving gunfire and multiple law enforcement agencies that ended in a Phoenix suburb, authorities said Friday. Chandler Police Officer Christopher Farrar was killed and a Gilbert police...
Eyeing 2024, Mike Pence says he’ll push back on ‘liberal agenda’
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Former Vice President Mike Pence, positioning himself for a possible return to elected office, told an audience in early-voting South Carolina that he will spend the coming months “pushing back on the liberal agenda” he says is wrong for the country. “We’ve got to guard our values...
Georgia man on way to prison escapes at convenience store
ATLANTA — Authorities were searching Friday morning for an inmate who escaped from custody while being taken to a state prison and residents in neighborhoods south of Atlanta’s airport were being asked to lock their doors. Devonte Detuan Ross slipped away from a private transport company at a QuikTrip where...
Germany pledges to adjust climate law after court verdict
BERLIN — The German government on Friday announced that it will swiftly adjust its law aiming to curb climate change, after the country’s top court ruled that existing legislation places an unfair burden on younger generations. Germany’s Constitutional Court said Thursday that the government must set clear goals for reducing...
Counting the costs of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — America’s longest war, the two-decade-long conflict in Afghanistan that started in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, killed tens of thousands of people, dogged four U.S. presidents and ultimately proved unwinnable despite its staggering cost in blood and treasure. This final chapter, with...
Europe’s economy shrinks in 1st quarter as U.S. rolls ahead
Europe’s economy shrank 0.6% in the first three months of the year as slow vaccine rollouts and extended lockdowns delayed a hoped-for recovery - and underlined how the region is lagging other major economies in rebounding from the coronavirus pandemic. The fall in output for the 19 countries that use...
Pope facilitates Vatican prosecutions for cardinals, bishops
Pope Francis has sent another message to Vatican-based cardinals and bishops about his intent to hold them accountable for criminal misconduct: He removed the procedural obstacles that had spared them from being prosecuted by the Vatican’s criminal tribunal. A new law published Friday makes clear that Vatican city-state prosecutors have...
Religious festival stampede in Israel kills 45, injures 150
JERUSALEM — A stampede at a religious festival attended by tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews in northern Israel killed at least 45 people and injured about 150 early Friday, medical officials said. It was one of the country’s deadliest civilian disasters. The stampede began when large numbers of people...
Florida GOP awaits governor’s signature on new voting rules
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Republicans passed a series of sweeping voter restrictions Thursday targeting mailed ballots, drop boxes and other popular election methods, becoming the latest GOP-controlled state to tighten voting rules after massive turnout in 2020. The bill now heads to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who just months ago touted...
Stampede at Israeli religious festival kills nearly 40Video
JERUSALEM — A stampede broke out early Friday at a Jewish religious festival attended by tens of thousands of people in northern Israel, killing nearly 40 people and leaving some 150 hospitalized, medical officials said. The stampede, one of the deadliest civilian disasters in Israeli history, occurred during the celebrations...
Former reality TV star Josh Duggar arrested, jailed in Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Former reality TV star Josh Duggar was jailed in northwest Arkansas on Thursday after his arrest by federal authorities. It was unclear what charges he may face. Duggar was held at the Washington County jail after being arrested in the afternoon by U.S. marshals, according to the...
Brazil tops 400,000 coronavirus deaths amid fears of renewed surge
SAO PAULO — Brazil on Thursday became the second country to officially top 400,000 covid-19 deaths, losing another 100,000 lives in just one month, as some health experts warn there may be gruesome days ahead when the Southern Hemisphere enters winter. April was Brazil’s deadliest month of the pandemic, with...
Idaho lawmaker accused of rape resigns after expulsion recommended
BOISE — An Idaho lawmaker accused of rape by a 19-year-old legislative intern has resigned after an ethics committee found he should be formally censured. The investigation into Rep. Aaron von Ehlinger began in March after a young staffer reported he raped her in his apartment after the two had...
